1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image communicating apparatus such as a facsimile apparatus, and more particularly to an image communicating apparatus equipped with an ink jet recording head and adapted to effect image reception according to an error correction mode.
2. Related Background Art
There have recently been developed ink jet printers that use a so-called bubble jet process, in which liquid ink is discharged from discharge openings, by means of bubbles generated by thermal energy, toward a recording material thereby recording characters or other patterns. Such printers can achieve a high-density arrangement of multiple discharge openings, because the heat-generating resistor (heater) provided in each discharge opening is significantly smaller than the piezoelectric element employed in the conventional ink jet printers, and has the advantages of providing a recorded image of high quality and achieving high-speed recording with low noise.
On a other hand the facsimile apparatus is requested not only to transmit an image at a high speed but also to receive an image of higher quality at a high speed. The bubble ink jet printer, with the above-explained features, is considered to respond to such requirements, but the facsimile apparatus equipped with such bubble ink jet printer has not been commercialized.
In ink jet printers, the ink discharge openings of the recording head may become blocked by the ink the viscosity of which is increased by a pause in the use of the recording head, by a low humidity atmosphere or by a difference in the frequency of use of the discharge openings, or by the deposited dusts. For this reason there has been employed a discharge recovery mechanism for expelling the viscosified ink by pressurizing the interior of the recording head or sucking such viscosified ink through a cap member covering and protecting the discharge openings of the recording head. Even in the course of recording operation, such blocking may occur in the discharge openings of lower frequency of use, as the frequency of ink discharge is not uniform and some discharge openings may not be used at all. Since such blocking deteriorates the image quality, recovery operations for ink discharge are generally considered necessary at regular intervals.
Therefore, in case of incorporating an ink jet printer in a facsimile apparatus, it becomes necessary to protect the discharge openings of the recording head from drying or blocking, since the printing operation is not possible between pages in the reception of plural pages.
For this purpose the above-explained recovery operation has to be conducted frequently, leading to a wasted consumption of the recording ink.